I know most bloggers tend to give up easy on link building opportunities, they either send a direct mail of which most get ignored or they fail to find the right way to approach a fellow webmaster. I have a way around that, and it’s very easy (takes time, but it’s easy). There are different ways to go about this, but I like using two free tools that help me find content for outreach and get some nice juicy links and also a foolproof way of getting in touch with the webmaster. These tools are Zemanta and Rapportive.

Let’s first talk setup and then we will go over a scenario.

Zemanta setup

Setting up either is incredibly easy. Zemanta can be setup in two ways, either by installing Chrome plugin from their website, which works with any CMS and blogging platform (usually) or you can install their WordPress plugin which can be found in the WordPress plugin repository.

After you install Zemanta, you’ll see a new sidebar tab labeled “Zemanta Configuration” appear. Click on it to open the panel. The Zemanta API keys will already be entered, so there’s no need change them unless you’re using an alternate key. The only option you’ll need to set in the Configuration panel relates to image management.

Zemanta displays related images from third-parties. When you chose to include a related image in your blog post, WordPress retrieves it from the site for display. If you’d prefer to host selected related images yourself, check the option box next to “Enable Image Uploading.” This stores a copy of each image you use and adds it to your media gallery,

You can connect your own blog via preferences and even add your Twitter account. You can also add up to 800 blogs to search for related content in addition to the ones Zemanta follows through users.

Rapportive Setup

Setting up Rapportive is also incredibly easy. Go to their website and click on a big orange button that says “add Rapportive to Gmail” and on the next page you will be prompted to save the Chrome extension install. After that the installation is manual, so the next thing you need to do is open up your Gmail account and you will see a new tab at the top which says Rapportive.

You can then customize your profile by adding all your social media accounts and your location, but most likely Zemanta will already know some of your social media connections. When you open an email you received or start typing an email address Rapportive, which can be found in the right sidebar will show the results for the person whose email you are using.

Scenario of your dreams

Ok, so now that you have both of them setup we can start connecting and building some backlinks as well as getting those juicy guest posts we only dreamed of so far.

To begin using Zemanta, access the post creation tool. A new sidebar tab labeled “Zemanta” will appear. As you begin typing your post, you’ll see image and related article recommendations. To add an image, simply click on it. The image will now appear in the post box, and you’ll be able to set its placement. To add a related article, simply click on the article’s title. A new field beneath your post content will appear, with a listing of each related article you’ve chosen.

At this point you can use Zemanta to acquire links in two ways. To start, you can reach out to bloggers you’ve linked to using the Zemanta plugin and ask them to support you with a link as well. Some will be happy to do this, as long as your site is relevant and useful.

Another way to build links is to integrate your blog into the Zemanta platform. By doing this, your articles will appear as related links for a large network of bloggers, making it easy for them to link to your relevant content. Now this is the actual dream scenario, you don’t do a thing, just write good content and links start coming in.

But the first way to get links requires that you contact the owner of the blog. In some cases it will really be enough just to send an email stating that you linked to their great post about XYZ and they may feel inclined to link to you. Not happening 4 out of 5 times, so how to make sure that 4 out of 5 times you do get a link back. Well, get to know them and get them to know you. This is where Rapportive comes into play. In most cases you can find their social media profiles clearly shown on the blog, but some people play hide and seek so you need to dig deeper. With Rapportive all you need is a person’s email and you will get their social media accounts in a second.

Next step, you can hate me for it but it’s the best way to go, after all, you are building a relationship that is 100 times more worth than any single link. So the next part is connecting to those people on social networks like Twitter and Google+, Quora or whatever they use and get them to notice you. Hell, you can even invite them to join your group on Triberr and try to get into theirs. The bottom line is that you have to make them see you and talk to you, at which point it will be easy to turn those 4 links you never get into 4 links you get with ease.

Revelation

I don’t mean to blaspheme, so no pun intended if you are religious, but all of you bloggers and internet marketers, it’s time to see the light that is social media. If you haven’t already gotten it to your thick skulls that the best way to achieve success online is through building meaningful relationships with fellow bloggers and webmasters than you won’t be getting the sweet piece of pie that some of us are enjoying right now. You won’t be getting a link, you won’t be getting a mention, you won’t have people commenting as much as you want them to, you will be playing online success with yourself in your room. So start connecting by reaching out first, don’t play the waiting game, because the rest of the net ain’t waiting for you.

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About the author - Zarko Zivkovic

Zarko Zivkovic is the founder and CEO of Practical SEO and also a passionate blogger. All of his free time he dedicates to his Practical SEO blog and giving free advice as well as participating in the blogging community.

well, depends on the quality of the post, but so far each post on this blog has a few links acquired in that manner, and some extensive posts I did have picked up a great number of links, so it’s hard to see which ones were actually acquired through Zemanta… but I did see an increase in links after using Zemanta so I know it works, I should start tracking to have an exact number and percentage